Program in Physical Therapy, Edward and Margaret Doisy College of Health Sciences, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri 63104, USA.
Published: April 2008
AI Article Synopsis
Article Abstract
Purpose: The purposes of this study were to describe normal values and variability of the Functional Reach Test (FRT) scores in young children and to examine the relationship between anthropometric measures and FRT scores.
Methods: One hundred twenty-one children aged 3 to 5 years without known disabilities participated in this study. The mean of three successful FRT trials was analyzed.
Results: Three-year-old children reached 11.4 +/- 2.6 cm (mean +/- SD), 4-year-old children 13.6 +/- 3.0 cm, and 5-year-old children 15.7 +/- 4.4 cm. The 95% confidence intervals for the mean and the cutoff reach value for 2 standard deviations below the mean are reported. Weight was the only significant anthropometric measure that predicted FR (R(2) = 0.34).
Conclusion: The FRT is a feasible test to examine the balance of 4- to 5-year-old children and should be used with caution for 3-year-old children.
Background: Congenital scoliosis with progressive potential is a controversial subject in early-onset spinal deformities. The presence of a hemivertebra may produce severe spinal deformities. The evolution of a scoliotic curve in these cases is unpredictable and requires careful follow-up dependent on multiple variables, such as the location of the hemivertebra, the age of the patient at the time of diagnosis, and the degree of deformity already present in both sagittal and frontal planes.
Background: Glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GPN) is a rare condition typically manifesting as paroxysms of sharp, lancinating pain localized to the middle ear and auditory canal, base of the tongue, tonsillar fossa, and region just inferior to the angle of the mandible. Vascular compression is a common etiology, and microvascular decompression (MVD) has been established as a safe and efficacious treatment in adults. With the exception of one report of an adult patient undergoing the procedure for symptomatology that began in adolescence, there are no published cases of MVD for GPN in pediatric patients to the author's knowledge.
Diamond Blackfan anemia (DBA) is an autosomal dominant disorder with a heterogeneous clinical presentation which may include macrocytic anemia typically presenting in the first year of life, growth retardation, and congenital malformations in 30%-50% of patients. This phenotypic variability is partially explained by genotype-phenotype correlations, with several ribosomal protein genes implicated in this disorder. Most cases are due to de novo variants, but familial occurrences highlight variable expressivity and reduced penetrance.
Young children rapidly acquire and rigidly adhere to conventional norms. Prior accounts of this early-emerging norm behavior propose that children perceive conventional norms as obligations to their cultural groups and, in conforming to the norms, sacrifice their individual desires for the welfare of the group. In the current research, we investigate the hypothesis that children may actually derive happiness from adhering to conventional norms, thus aligning rather than diverging from their individual desires.
Immunology Unit, Department of Laboratory Diagnostic and Investigative Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, UZ-FMHS), Harare, Zimbabwe.
Background: HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) children are at increased risk of morbidity during the first years of life. Although the immune responses of HEU infants in early-life are relatively well described, studies of natural killer (NK) cells in older HEU children are lacking. NK cell subsets were analysed in HEU children and compared to those in HIV unexposed uninfected (HUU) children aged ~ five years.
